Housing Starts Increased to 1.428 million Annual Rate in July

From the Census Bureau: Permits, Starts and Completions

Housing Starts:
Privately-owned housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,428,000. This is 5.2 percent above the revised June estimate of 1,358,000 and is 12.9 percent above the July 2024 rate of 1,265,000. Single-family housing starts in July were at a rate of 939,000; this is 2.8 percent above the revised June figure of 913,000. The July rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 470,000.

Building Permits:
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,354,000. This is 2.8 percent below the revised June rate of 1,393,000 and is 5.7 percent below the July 2024 rate of 1,436,000. Single-family authorizations in July were at a rate of 870,000; this is 0.5 percent above the revised June figure of 866,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 430,000 in July.
emphasis added

The first graph shows single and multi-family housing starts since 2000 (including housing bubble).

Multi-family starts (blue, 2+ units) increased month-over-month in July. Multi-family starts were up 24.1% year-over-year. Single-family starts (red) increased in July and were up 7.8% year-over-year.

The second graph shows single and multi-family starts since 1968.

Total housing starts in July were well above expectations and starts in May and June were revised up.

The third graph shows the month-to-month comparison for total starts between 2024 (blue) and 2025 (red).

Total starts were up 12.9% in July compared to July 2024. Note that July was the weakest month in 2024, so this was an easy comparison.

Year-to-date (YTD) starts are up 1.6% compared to the same period in 2024. Single family starts are down 4.2% YTD and multi-family up 18.1% YTD.

Multi-Family Housing Units Under Construction Remains Elevated

The fourth graph shows housing starts under construction, Seasonally Adjusted (SA).

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